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GPU/HD/MOBO Problem Help!

Hello, I recently bought a Arctic Accelero Xtreme III to replace my R9 290's stock cooler in hopes of improving its infamous temperature problems. However, while I cannot determine if this is the result of coincidence, i cannot get a signal out of the GPU. There has been at times it would connect and display on my monitor then disconnect seconds later. When my GPU is not connected and I'm using my MOBO's GPU, I am getting the error of "Media Test Failure Check Cable". I have already looked into solutions to solve that problem by 1) Reseating HD and checking cables 2) Double checking that BIOS bootup is correct. The problem still exists. I do not have another convenient computer to test specifically if my GPU, HD or MOBO is the problem. Are the two problems linked, or is this just coincidence? I will also add that when installing the GPU fan, I stupidly hooked up both the fan's electrical cable to (please excuse my terminology) the power supply cable, and a small amount of fumes were released. I initially thought when the first problem occurred that my GPU was fried. However, it has worked on occasion when booting up my PC before losing connection. So, GPU, HD, or MOBO?

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All Answers

That's the sign that something fried. I have yet to see fumes from fresh heatsink work so given the story and lack of PC detail, when I see a machine like this I check to see if the motherboard and CPU support ON BOARD VIDEO. If so I pull the GPU out and try ON BOARD VIDEO.

I do think that something might have fried, though I do not think it was the GPU. (at least I'm hoping anyways) The fan essentially was not connected to the GPU at all upon first boot up, and the fumes as I determined came from the cables where I connected the fan. I will double check again ALL cables to ensure that the problem is not my HD power connection. I did not check this because the fans connected to that cable work fine. On board video as in the motherboard's internal graphics? If so, I removed my GPU and tried to see if it worked without it, but then I encounter the "Media... " error. Reading solutions to that error only link to HD or MOBO problems. This could explain why my GPU does not connect to the MOBO. I am rechecking the cables now.

I can send you a picture of them early evening since I am at work. I took the liberty of buying a new motherboard (ASRock Z97 Killer LGA 1150) and a hard drive (Toshiba 1 TB 5400RPM), which comes in tomorrow. There also is the possibility that my GPU is at fault somehow. I will post pictures of that too later tonight. I have read that the GPU can short circuit of the thermal paste gets on the circuit. Could that be a possible factor? I am unaware exactly what happens if a GPU short circuits.

About that last screw, I had purchased the fan open box, and it was missing one of the screws. Everything else in the fan was fine. Are you positive that the backplate shorted the GPU? Again, the fan was not connected to the GPU as it should've been. It was connected to a power supply cable. In addition, the fumes were not originating from the card, but from one of my cables.

How would reverting the card back to the stock fan help the problem? I'm not sure if I can since the VRM's no longer have the thermal (whatever it was) paste on them. The cables look fine, nothing looks like it was burned in all honesty, and the PSU has been powering the computer fine. I would still like to add that my GPU had projected the display on occasion during startup but then disconnect seconds later, so I'm not convinced that the GPU is fried/short circuited. I am borrowing a friend's hard drive to test on the computer to see if the HD is at fault. Meanwhile hopefully my MOBO will be in tomorrow to confirm that the MOBO issue is not at fault. If all else fails, I would consider the GPU to be the perpetrator.

Well it's to primarily see what's at fault. I do not have access to another computer to really test the parts, and my car is not on campus to drive to a well known pc repair shop. The only place I could take it is to the IT center, but I doubt the creditability of work study students to pinpoint the problem. Ultimately we'll see tomorrow. I will try to replace the cable and see if that has any impact.

Okay, so my HD and MOBO arrived a few moments ago, and I first tested the HD on the system to see what would happen. In fact, the problem the PCI Error occurs is because my HD was likely fried. My BIOS does not detect my other hard drive, and I'm assuming it's dead. I have no installed the new MOBO yet, but I am having difficultly figuring out how to install Windows on the new HD. I initially thought I needed to transfer data from my dead HD to the new one, but apparently this will not work on preinstalled window computers. I am in need of the product code. However, I cannot figure out how I would install windows on the new HD. Any idea how I would go about this?

I'll start off with the good news. The good news is that my computer is finally about to boot up again. It surely is a big relief that it's at least in working condition. The source of the problem was again the hard drive, and because it was fried, my MOBO could not access its windows files. It turns out that my MOBO was not a OEM copy of windows. My windows was on my HD, so I installed the ISO, and reactivated it on my old MOBO. Now on to the bad news. I have installed the GPU drivers for my R9 290, but whenever I turn it on with it plugged in, the computer does not bootup nor does it allow any displayed from my GPU nor my on board graphics. I have been researching about possible fixes for this. My PSU wattage is high enough for my card hence it was able to support it for the past few months. All of my cables were securely plugged into the card, and my card was securely seated on the MOBO. I will continue to research why it will not start up, but I wondered if you had any suggestions.

1. The missing mounting or retaining screw.2. I can't tell if the metal backing plate was shorting out against the PCB and traces. It looked suspect which I might only be able to check if I was there to give it a look.

Any way to fix this? Pretty upset that something like this could fry my hard drive, and gpu for something ridiculous. Instructions did not even specify the dangers of connecting the three and four pin converter, though clearly obvious with in depth research. I've read that the oven trick has brought back gpus to life though I assume short circuits are a different case instead of gpu old age.

You can try it but the short could have been from the +12V to the +5V and the consequences would be deep.

I didn't mention the usual 290 heatsink work. It's usually good enough to just redo the compound and then leave the case cover off. But that's hindsight. Here you seem to have dead things that need to go away or be replaced.

Anyways, seems this post is settled then. Thank you for assisting me through this process. This definitely gives me some better idea on the specificity on mistakes when building computers. Again, thank you for your time. While I am not sure if this would be of any help, if you're in need of any help, assistance or advice, shoot me an email and I'll be glad to help in anyway I can!

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